When the Trawl Ban Is a Good Option: Opportunities to Restore Fish Biomass and Size Structure in a Mediterranean Fisheries Restricted Area

This paper reports the results of a 15-year trawl ban imposed in 1990 in the Gulf of Castellammare (GCAST: NW Sicily, central Mediterranean Sea) and its effects on the biomass and size structure of demersal finfish and shellfish and on the proportion of different commercial categories of fish. Data...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 15; no. 3; p. 2425
Main Authors Pipitone, Carlo, Agnetta, Davide, Zenone, Arturo, Giacalone, Vincenzo Maximiliano, Badalamenti, Fabio, Fiorentino, Fabio, Rinelli, Paola, Sinopoli, Mauro, Vega Fernández, Tomás, D’Anna, Giovanni
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2023
Subjects
Animal behavior
Bans
Biomass
Coasts
Commercial fishing
Commercial species
Environmental aspects
Fish
Fish populations
Fisheries
Fisheries management
Fishing
Gulfs
Hypotheses
Indicators
Marine resources conservation
Shellfish
Sport fishing
Sustainability
Sustainable development
Trawling
United Kingdom
Mediterranean Sea
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Summary:This paper reports the results of a 15-year trawl ban imposed in 1990 in the Gulf of Castellammare (GCAST: NW Sicily, central Mediterranean Sea) and its effects on the biomass and size structure of demersal finfish and shellfish and on the proportion of different commercial categories of fish. Data were collected by experimental trawl surveys conducted in the GCAST and in two trawled areas before and after 1990. The biomass of the total assemblage and of a number of selected species was significantly higher in the GCAST after the ban. Highly commercial species had the largest increase in the same gulf after the ban, particularly at the depths used by artisanal fishermen. The results from size-based indicators were not as clear-cut as those from biomass though. Although the length frequency distributions obtained in the GCAST were significantly different from the other gulfs, in several cases, the values of the size indicators were higher in the trawled gulfs. Our results suggest that, at the temporal and spatial scale adopted, trawl bans may drive full biomass recovery but only partial size structure recovery of the fish populations subject to trawl exclusion, at least in the Mediterranean. The trawl ban in the Gulf of Castellammare provides an example of an effective ecosystem-based fisheries management tool that offers the potential for fish stock rebuilding and for the economic sustainability of artisanal, small-scale fisheries.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su15032425